Travis Bishop, soldier imprisoned as conscientious objector in USA

AMR 51/093/2009

Sargent Travis Bishop is serving a one-year prison sentence over his refusal to serve in Afghanistan, a refusal caused by his religious beliefs. AI considers him a prisoner of conscience. Click above for full details.

Please write to:
Commanding Officer of Travis Bishop's Unit

• Lieutenant General Rick Lynch; Commanding General; III Corps HQ; 1001 761st Tank Battalion Ave.; Bldg. 1001, Room W105; Fort Hood, TX 76544-5005; USA (Salutation: Dear Commanding General), and
• Military Commander Colonel James H. Jenkins III; Headquarters, 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade; Building 10053, Battalion Avenue; Fort Hood, TX 76544-5068; USA

before 05 October.

Send copies to your local diplomatic mission for the US, as well as to Travis's lawyer
Travis Bishop’s lawyer

• James M. Branum; 3334 W. Main St., PMB #412; Norman, OK 73072; USA

My letter is below.

Lieutenant General Rick Lynch
Ole Koksvik
Philosophy, RSSS
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 2600
AUSTRALIA

Commanding General
III Corps HQ
1001 761st Tank Battalion Ave.
Bldg. 1001, Room W105
Fort Hood, TX 76544-5005
USA


Dear Commanding General,

RE: Travis Bishop

My name is Ole Koksvik. I am a Norwegian citizen, an Australian Permanent Resident and a PhD Candidate at the Australian National University.

I wish to draw your attention to the fact that Amnesty International considers Travis Bishop to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for his conscientious objection to participate in war.

I understand that Bishop went absent without leave, however he did so to complete an application for conscientious objector status and seek legal advice, thereafter returning to his unit to submit the application.

I strongly urge the authorities to release Travis Bishop immediately and unconditionally.

Thank you for taking the time to read my concerns.

Yours sincerely,


Ole Koksvik

Police Killings in Venezuela: 900 a Year!

From the Guardian again:

Human rights group estimate that during the past decade there has been an average of 900 killings a year. "Extra-judicial executions are extremely widespread. It's a habitual practice," said Pablo Fernandez, of the Support Network for Justice and Peace, an advocacy group that tracks human rights abuses.

Read the whole article here.

Doctors Participated in Torture, Committed Illegal Research

First of all, I'm tired of the BS of calling what CIA did "harsh techniques", or "rough interrogation" or similar euphemisms. What the CIA (and others) have done is torture, pure and simple. Waterboarding is torture. Slamming someone's head against the wall is torture. Keeping someone awake for prolonged periods of time is torture. The list goes on. So, this is an allegation by a watchdog that doctors participated in torture.

From the Guardian:

Doctors and psychologists the CIA employed to monitor its "enhanced interrogation" of terror suspects came close to, and may even have committed, unlawful human experimentation, a medical ethics watchdog has alleged. ...

PHR [Physicians for Human Rights] says health professionals participated at every stage in the development, implementation and legal justification of what it calls the CIA's secret "torture programme".

Read on here.

Gender Inequity in South Africa: "correctional rape" against lesbian women

I have decided to more of the stuff I read on human rights in general on this blog, not just AI letters. Hopefully this will still be of interest to most readers.

This article in the Guardian is well worth a read. It starts off with talk about Caster Semenya -- the athlete asked to prove that she is female -- but quicly gets on to more general questions about gender roles in South Africa, and rape.

From the article:

Semenya might have been embraced with adulation this week, but another sportswoman who transgressed gender expectations has met a very different fate. Last year Eudy Simelane, who captained South Africa's women football team, was gang-raped and beaten, before being stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs. ...

Gay and lesbian activists said that Simelane – a 29-year-old politically active lesbian of supposedly "butch" appearance – was just the most high-profile victim of so-called "corrective rape". That is the rape of a lesbian by a man to punish or "cure" her sexual orientation.
...
Shocking research published last year by Triangle revealed that 10 cases of "corrective rape" are reported in South Africa every week. An astonishing 31 lesbians have been reported murdered in homophobic attacks since 1998 but only two cases have made it to the courts and there has been only one conviction. (Emphasis mine.)

Rendition to CONTINUE under Obama??

If this is true, it is extremel disappointing!

The Obama administration will continue the Bush administration’s practice of sending terror suspects to third countries for detention and interrogation, but will monitor their treatment to ensure they are not tortured, administration officials said on Monday.

From the New York Times.

Death Sentence Postponed

Further details: MDE 13/086/2009

Here is extracted information from that document:
In Iran, Mohammad Reza Haddadi was sentenced to death in 2004 for a murder committed when he was 15. He confessed to the murder, but later retracted the confession. He said that he was innocent, but had claimed responsibility for the killing because his two co-defendants had offered to give his family money if he did so.

The execution of juvenile offenders is prohibited under international law, including Article 6(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Iran is a state party, and so has undertaken not to execute anyone for crimes committed when they were under 18.

Please write to:

• Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei; The Office of the Supreme Leader; Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street; Tehran; Islamic Republic of Iran. Email: info_leader@leader.ir, or via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English)
• Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi; c/o Director, Judiciary Public Relations and Information Office; Ardeshir Sadiq; Judiciary Public Relations and Information Office;
  No. 57, Pasteur St.; corner of Khosh Zaban Avenue; Tehran; Iran. Email: info@dadiran.ir
  

Send copies to:

• Judiciary spokesperson Alireza Jamshidi; Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary; Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri; Tehran 1316814737' Iran; Email: info@a-jamshidi.ir
• His Excellency Mr Mahmoud MOVAHHEDI, Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, PO Box 705 , Mawson ACT 2607, Fax : (02) 6290 2825, Email: ambassador@iranembassy.org.au, (Salutation: Your Excellency)

My letter is below:

Ole Koksvik
Philosophy, RSSS
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 2600
AUSTRALIA


Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
c/o Director, Judiciary Public Relations and Information Office
Ardeshir Sadiq
Judiciary Public Relations and Information Office
No. 57, Pasteur St., corner of Khosh Zaban Avenue
Tehran
Iran

Your Excellency,

My name is Ole Koksvik. I am a Norwegian citizen, an Australian Permanent Resident, a PhD Candidate at the Australian National University.

I write to recognise and welcome the postponement of Mohammad Reza Haddadi's execution. I urge you to now commute this death sentence without delay.

I respectfully remind you that Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which prohibit the use of the death penalty against people convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18.

Thank you for taking the time to read my concerns.

Yours sincerely,

Ole Koksvik

Human Rights Defender on Trial in DR Congo

In DR Congo, human rights defender Golden Misabikom, who is the pPresident of the human rights organisation Association Africaine de défense des Droits de l’Hommein Katanga province (ASADHO/Katanga), is being put on trial, charged with "threatening state security," because his organization published a report alleging state complicity in illegal uranium mining.

Further details here: AFR 62/014/2009

Please write to:

• President; Son Excellence Joseph Kabila; Président de la République; Palais de la Nation; Avenue de Lemera; Kinshasa-Gombe; Democratic Republic of Congo; E-mail: presipp@yahoo.fr (Salutation: Dear President Kabila)
• Justice Minister; Luzolo Bambi Lessa; Ministère de la Justice; 228 Avenue de Lemera; BP 3137 Kinshasa-Gombe; Democratic Republic of Congo; Email : pourtous.justice@yahoo.fr (Salutation: Dear Minister)

My letter is below:

Ole Koksvik
Philosophy, RSSS
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 2600
AUSTRALIA

Son Excellence Joseph Kabila
Président de la République
Palais de la Nation
Avenue de Lemera
Kinshasa-Gombe
Democratic Republic of Congo


Dear President Kabila,

My name is Ole Koksvik. I am a Norwegian citizen, an Australian Permanent Resident, a PhD Candidate at the Australian National University.

I write to demand that you release Golden Misabiko immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience detained solely for his lawful human rights work.

I urge you also to guarantee Golden Misabiko's right to freedom of expression, including the right to conduct research, publish and disseminate, by himself or through ASADHO/Katanga, human rights information, a principle recognized by the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.

Thank you for taking the time to read my concerns.

Yours sincerely,

Ole Koksvik

This letter has been made public here: http://aiua-sent.blogspot.com/